Does the recent boom in fracking help or hurt the fight against climate change?

EPA methane report further divides fracking camps

Pittsburgh — The Environmental Protection Agency has
dramatically lowered its estimate of how much of a potent heat-trapping
gas leaks during natural gas production, in a shift with major
implications for a debate that has divided environmentalists: Does the
recent boom in fracking help or hurt the fight against climate change?

Oil
and gas drilling companies had pushed for the change, but there have
been differing scientific estimates of the amount of methane that leaks
from wells, pipelines and other facilities during production and
delivery. Methane is the main component of natural gas.

The new
EPA data is "kind of an earthquake" in the debate over drilling, said
Michael Shellenberger, the president of the Breakthrough Institute, an
environmental group based in Oakland, Calif. "This is great news for
anybody concerned about the climate and strong proof that existing
technologies can be deployed to reduce methane leaks."